


I'll try, I promise

by orphan_account



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-18 23:03:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5946664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>General Leia knows that there is still light in her son, a truth Rey acknowledges, having met Ben Solo in the depths of Kylo Ren's mind. Rey agrees to go on a mission to try and bring him back, but has no idea what will happen when she meets the knight chained up in the depths of Snoke's castle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I'll try, I promise

Rey sat in the pilot’s seat of the millennium falcon, pulling levers and pressing switches as the old thing hummed to life. Chewbacca sat her co-pilot, chuffing as they lifted off the grass-lined asphalt strip of D’Qar. 

She sucked in a deep breath to calm her nerves, clear her mind as Master Luke had taught her, looking forward to returning and (hopefully) seeing the friends again. If all went well. She hadn’t said goodbye, not supposed to say anything about the mission that would be passed off as a first order recon mission, although that wasn’t quite the truth.

There was a twinge that didn’t belong to her at the thought of General Leia Organa, and the mission that was arguably a matter of personal interest that she was to complete. “I know about the connection you two share, Rey” She had dolefully smiled as the young Padawan twitched uncomfortably. “I know you can find him. I won’t force you into anything, but, please, try to help him. I know there is light in him.” She had seemed so frail, Rey almost wasn’t sure how she was to refuse, should she want to. She was the shadow of a great woman, held together by the threads of responsibility the people of the New Republic had so generously balanced on her shoulders. She understood this was the same thing Master Luke saw when he looked at his sister, and that this was a personal matter for him, too. She’d refrained from asking him for guidance.

Rey had been sleeplessly tossing in bed for what seemed like the millionth night in a row when she’d made her decision. She was so, so tired, but the hole he’d burrowed in her mind writhed and kicked his pain into the fore-front of her attention. His loneliness magnified her own, ripping a hole where she was weakest. She sensed an age-old conflict that had tortured him all his life, black hatred of the dark side threatening to drown him and make him new, while a shining, yet misunderstood little boy, clung to the memory of his mother and father, his uncle, and a certain girl, refused to let him be overtaken by the opaque waves.She reached out with the force, desperate to wipe his tears away as well as her own, but his resolve to remain encumbered with this burden was entrenched at the core of his being. She could feel him put up walls in his mind, and the feelings dimmed significantly, but not quite before the shining little boy whispered his coordinates into her mind, a silent plea for help. She promised she would try.

———

D’Qar was lightyears behind them when they pulled out of hyperspace, the vast expanse of stars and darkness in front of them broken only by a planet somehow darker than its surroundings. Rey realized she wasn’t exactly sure what she was looking for. She could feel the quickening of his heart when he sensed her force signature, amplified by the bond they shared. His mind passed over hers like a storm, pushing her away with a whirlwind of visions, Snoke finding and torturing her, torturing him, what he’d have to do if he found her, panic that he wouldn’t be able to, the darkness threatening to overtake him.

At the eye of the storm, the little boy with eyes as dark as his hair showed her the way in. A castle of nightmares flanked by sleek TIE fighters, contrasting the ancient palace they were guarded. Imposing hallways of stone interlocked in a spiralling path to grotesque underground dungeons. He showed her a door not unlike the others that could be found in the vault of cellars, with it’s only distinguishing feature being the presence she could feel behind it. She breathed her acknowledgement to him as Chewie voiced his apprehension.

“Oh c’mon, it’s not that bad, Chewie, maybe little dreary. You don’t even have to go in.” Her voice was cheery, trying to calm her own nerves as well as his.

He rumbled his dissatisfaction.

“I have to. I’ll be fine. Just hang around, please.” She smiled, remembering one of his stories.“Y’know. Don't fly too close or too far. Don’t look suspicious. Just fly casual.”

His laugh was hoarse. She could feel Kylo gnashing his teeth.

 

It was a long trek up to the twisted castle, one that Rey spent monitoring Kylo Ren, who, while strongly opposing to her presence, was carefully guarding his thoughts from Snoke. She was safe, if only for the moment.

 

Adorned in dark clothes to blend with the dark crust of earth beneath her feet, Rey began mounting the hundreds of steps up to the grand entrance. She went over her objectives given by the General and pushed down the ever-present nervousness in her stomach, trying not to think about their origins. Of course she was afraid of running into Snoke, already sure she wasn’t concealing her force signature enough, but she was just that, afraid. Kylo Ren’s mind passed over her’s once again as he felt her growing closer, at once excited and angry, although she was sure he’d only admit to the latter. Her stomach fluttered.

The door at the top of the worn steps was huge and heavy-looking, impossible to open with just her strength, Rey decided as she threw herself against it. Backing up, she closed her eyes, hand lifting as she reached out with the Force.

 _What the fuck are you doing?_ Kylo screamed in her mind as he intercepted her. _You use the Force on that door and he’ll know you’re here, scavenger. I should hope you aren’t stupid enough to think he wouldn’t have additional security._

She gnashed her teeth. _I’ve got no other way to get in, unless you know of one._

His anger flared momentarily, igniting in her veins, before he relaxed, defeated. _Theres no way I can stop you from coming in here?_

She didn’t reply.

_Stubborn girl. You aren’t going to like this._

She felt his mind press at hers, invading her senses and blinding her. She felt anger, her own, bubble up in her system as darkness lapped at her ankles. She was tortured with visions of being on Jakku, alone and forgotten, while Kylo Ren further took over her darkness.He receded from her mind, as did the anger and darkness, and her hand was raised. The door was open.

She wiped tears from her cheeks and took a deep breath. _Don’t do that again._

He didn’t reply.

She crept past the door, thinking of nothing but her objective now. This would be Kylo’s last chance at redemption. General Organa knew the location of Snoke’s castle, and, having Rey’s permission, had told the other rebellion leaders, who were planning an attack two weeks from then. These thoughts, of course, were carefully shielded from Kylo Ren. If he refused to be saved, if she couldn’t lead him to the light, he would be destroyed with the castle. She grimaced at the thought that the General was preparing herself for the worst.

The hallways passed slowly, Rey spent her time picking out the distinguishing features of each that she had seen in the vision on her way underground. She could feel much darkness here, circling her like a hungry vulture, but she was no stranger to the desert. It was a long time before she reached the cellar, dark and menacing, and smelling of blood. She counted the doors, wondered about the horrors they concealed as she heard shrieking, rumbling and scratching at the doors. Twice she came upon doors with an unknown slime oozing around their frames. There were more hallways, countless doors, before she reached his. She wondered why the first knight of Ren was kept with these monsters, although the irony didn’t go unnoticed. Tense energy, at once scared and raging, and in a tiny part hopeful, surrounded her as her hand brushed his door.

 

 _Stop. Go back to your Rebels._ He commanded silently, but he’d already given up.

 _I’ve made a promise._ She told him, and his heartbeat spiked. _I intend to keep it._

 

Rey pushed the door open, almost surprised as it gave as easily as it did. She was more surprised, however, to find the man concealed within chained upside down, blindfolded and gaged at the centre of the room and several feet off the ground.Only his pants and boots covered him, chest torn from many battle scars, the wound from Chewie’s blaster still ragged and pinkish tone, matching the thin gash on his face she’d death him months ago. His hands were chained underneath him, and he made no move to stop her when she approached him, butterflies suddenly returning as she reached above her to trace a scar and wondered why he hadn’t gone to a bacta tank. He didn’t give her an answer.

 

“What are you doing here?” She asked aloud, looking around the room, and finding a dozen crumpled droids in the corner.

 _I’m training._ Came his angry response, and as she untied the gag, she realized his face wasn’t purple. She recognized this exercise as a meditative one Master Luke had told her to practice, hanging upside-down on a tree for hours and focusing on nothing but keeping the blood flowing through her body. Master Luke, however, had never chained her and left her there to practice it, and she grimaced at the thought.

“How long have you been here.”

She felt his mind trying to figure it out before he voiced the hoarse answer, “I’m not sure.”

Up close, she could see dozens of tiny pin pricks along his skin, something he saw through her mind and shivered, procuring a vision of needles, which explained the crumpled droids. Rey felt sick, and sympathy for the villain in front of her swelling in her chest as she traced muscles of his abdomen up to the lines on his jaw, unsure of why she felt the need to touch, but he said nothing, shivering under her ministrations.

Slowly, she centred her thoughts again, remembering why she was here. She retracted her hand, holding it with her own.

“I come with an offer from the resistance, one concerning only you.”

He scoffed, and his demeanour changed instantly. “Get out of this cell.” He ordered levelly. She pressed at his mind, but found it closed off.

“Don’t be brash, they are offering you a chance at redemption, one you won’t get again. Come with me, and the resistance will not execute you, which is what you deserve.”

“Convincing, scavenger, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. There’s nothing for me to go back to at your dear resistance. Get out of my cell.”

“Your mother is there.”

“That woman is not my mother.”

“Of course she is, Kylo. I feel him in you, the boy you’ve chained in your mind. I know you’re still Ben Solo, as much as you try to pretend he’s dead.”

There was anger crackling like electricity in the room around her, but she refused to be afraid of the man in front of her. She felt the shining boy struggling, and reached for him, feeling his skin ragged underneath her fingers once more.

“You know nothing, girl, there’s nothing for me but a life of captivity there. Offer me something better.”

She was possessed, she thought, as she leaned forward and pressed her mouth to his, electricity lighting where they touched, her hands cupping his cheeks. However, she felt no press of his mind, instead searching his as the struggling boy calmed, and his thoughts shorted out as her mouth slowly moved against his. He tried to reach for her, but was trapped, something Rey was glad for as she pulled back, wiping the tingling energy from her mouth as he scrambled to find a way to bring her back. She thought it curious that he didn’t resort to the force, and stood back a couple feet from him, relived as a tension that had been there since he interrogated her lifted without warning. She fought the urge to do it again, instead breathing, “Come back with me.”

She felt the frenzy in him slowly calm, coming back to his senses, and his mouth cracked into a grin. He was fighting back the urge to laugh. “You think I’d come back with you because you kissed me? You’re mistaken, scavenger.”

She flushed, embarrassed, before she realized he was trying not to cry. The battle inside him worsened, darkness looming dangerously as Ben Solo tried to keep himself together. Slowly, she reached behind his head, and undid the blindfold. He squinted at her even though it was dark, like she was the sun. His eyes adjusted and his features softened. Her heart fluttered when he bit his lip and she graced him with another kiss, catching his bottom lip with both of hers and felt the spark through their bond. Pulling away and breathing against the skin of his cheek, she asked again. “Come back with me.”

“No.” He responded simply.

She looked into his eyes for what felt like hours, pressing into the mind of the broken man in front of her, trying to piece together a way to make him relent. He let her pry as she liked, but refrained from doing the same. She found nothing, and quietly acknowledged he was withholding the information she needed to bring him back to the light. She slowly stretched when he silently warned her that another droid would be around soon, gesturing with his eyes to the carapaces in the corner. She grimaced, not nearly ready to leave him, but she had failed her mission; there was no reason for her to stay.

She blindfolded Kylo Ren once again, pressing one last kiss to his lips before replacing the gag. She hastily traced the scar along his face, then turned and left without saying a word.

She was halfway down the stairs as he felt the prick of needles on her skin, recognizing the pain that had kept her awake at night as goosebumps raised on her skin. She wept silently.

She found Chewbacca waiting for her, miles from the castle. He roared his greeting, not mentioning the fact that she was alone, or the puffiness of her eyes.

They lifted off, and Rey left Ben Solo as good as dead on the cracked, black planet below.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Alternatively titled "I wrote a whole fanfiction just to make them do the spider-man kiss"  
> Please comment constructive criticism and thoughts, I haven't written in forever and would love some feedback. Also, if you want to know what happens after this, please tell me! I was thinking of making this into a series but I know it'll give me a boost of motivation if people actually want me to, haha.


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